Clocks

Good topic, Americ! I am a staunch advocate for using coordinated Universal time world-wide. The do on ShortWave Radio and it makes life so much simpler. Time organizes a world of fractured associations and enables us to meet with those not otherwise possible, enjoy live ball games which have some time constraints, and many other things. I could not attend a concert or the theater or get to class on time without some sort of understood time and place to meet. I could not teach one, either! Do we not cause our own stress in many of these instances by trying to cram too many things into a finite time limit?

Do we not cause our own stress in many of these instances by trying to cram too many things into a finite time limit? This is a great question; a great insight. The mind can certain think of far more things to do in one day; than the body could ever follow up on.

In a rested state, the night before, all things are possible. Therefore, the "to do" list is heaped with possibilities for the next day. By dawn's early light the next day, few things look possible. Coffee is mainlined, food trivialized and we set ourselves up for the inevitable stress and frustration. The rat race is on, and, as has been pointed out, the Rats are winning!

Is there not a certain amount of perceptional elasticity in 'time'. Have you noticed how time seems to fly past when you're having fun, and equally drags when you're bored or doing something you don't want to do. The clock marches on counting the seconds, minutes, hours, with clockwork (atomic?) precision but our perceptions of those boundaried units is strange. My perception of what and how much I can do in a given time slot changes according to my mood, time of day, stress levels etc. Sometimes I get it right and am realistic and would say I have made good use of time. At other times I am hopelessly out, and overestimate wildly what I can accomplish and get stressed out. Time perhaps is a man-made construct, an attempt to provide order out of chaos. In Africa I rarely wear a watch, and don't miss it at all. Here in the UK I am ruled by time, even when I don't have meetings to attend or other functions where a sense of 'time' is important. My perception is that society here is obsessed by time, society in Africa is not, at least not in the same way. Does that mean chaos rules when time is not in focus? doesn't appear to be so. Other aspects of life seem far more important, like just surviving.

I'm about nine months late to this topic, but there you go. I'm actually disappointed that I missed it because the few things that have been written above all strike quite a chord. I think the "perception" of time is very interesting. I would hypothesise that we "see" as much in a given time span as we think we need to. For example, when one is having fun one always wants to "have more fun" and therefore I would say we constantly strive ahead to reach the next "fun", doing this over and over until the "fun" runs out / comes to an end. Then we think "Oh, time flies when you're having fun!". I would possibly argue that it only flies because one is too busy enjoying one's self to notice time passing. On the other hand, when one is bored, there is nothing else to notice except the passing of time. Therefore, each second becomes more closely scrutinized. I believe that that scrutiny "lengthens" the second, or the perception of it. The most intriguing thing, for me, is the apparent lengthening of time when something bad / stressful is happening - before a road accident, or when you know someone is about to give you terrible news...the state of what I would call "heightened awareness" that I feel in those moments, and the amount of thought and information that can be packed into only a few seconds at most is quite stunning. I often think that if I could get to that level of consciousness in normal life then I could achieve some great things (or at least solve some tough mathematics problems!).

Now to get to that level of consciouness Mike ...and get my thesis finished!!!! (grin) I find myself 'second watching' in the gym ...the only place I think I do it in ..except I find myself counting in tens .. and it does seem to help with keeping on going. Is there something going on with the 'conscious/unconscious' mind here? just babbling and avoiding writing ........

Oooo...I know what you mean about counting in tens. Whenever I'm doing some kind of repetitious exercise (push-ups, crunches, whatever) I *always* find it easier if I just count in tens - getting to "9" for the fifth time is easier than getting to "49"!!

Do we have an underlying (default)decimal system that causes us to do this or is is conditioning???

I don't know. Tens are certainly easy to count in, which is probably why they're so popular :-)

The Wolof (Senegal) counting system is based on 5 ... and so is Bambara (Mali) ... I never did work out the money in the market .. we use cfa (the west african franc) notes, but calculate in Bambara .. too complicated fro my little brain. Back to concepts of time ... is time, like colour, a culturally determined concept. Until relatively recently in the UK we had 'local times' with very little standardisation. I think the trains made a huge difference to that.

Look at this ... you'll need shockwave or similar to view it properly http://www.britannica.com%2Fclockworks%2Fmain.html

If that link doesn't work ... try http://familyinternet.about.com/parenting/familyinternet/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2Fclockworks%2Fmain.html It's a really cool site in britannica.com which has masses interactively on time and clocks.

I count in 3s from ages of intricate knitting. Takes lionger to get to 49 cruches but it does get you close. Wish Americ would join in these deicious discussions he starts.